Keith Papulski has been involved with the flooring industry for almost 40 years, primarily in the areas of product development and manufacturing.

He began working for ORCON Corp. in 1969 where he was instrumental in the development of hot-melt carpet seaming tape and related products. Later, as owner of Y&K Manufacturing, Keith supplied ORCON and other companies with a variety of flooring installation tools.

In 1991, Keith was named general manager of Taylor Tools in Denver, Colorado, where he continues to oversee product research & development as well as Manufacturing, Sales and Marketing.

Keith has been a member of the ASTM F-06 committee since 2000.

Keith Papulski will be one of forty expert speakers and instructors at The Hardwood Flooring Summit, which is taking place in Atlanta on August 12-17, 2008. For a full list of conference speakers, please visit The Hardwood Flooring Summit’s Speaker Page.

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A lot of people have been asking about hotel information, so I’ve included contact information to get The Hardwood Flooring Summit’s group rate on hotel reservations:

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The Hardwood Flooring Summit announces BR-111’s Jack Racine as one of forty guest speakers. The dates for this educational conference are August 14^th through 17^th, at the Westin Peachtree Plaza in Atlanta.

Atlanta, Georgia July 7, 2008 - BR-111’s Director of Technical services, Jack Racine, will be a speaker at the upcoming Hardwood Flooring Summit. BR-111’s Racine will present a “Water and Wood” class at the Summit. The Hardwood Flooring Summit will host a total of forty expert speakers and instructors, which will take place at the Westin Peachtree Plaza in Atlanta from August 14^th to 17^th, 2008. The Hardwood Flooring Summit is the first conference dedicated to hardwood flooring education.

In choosing this topic, Racine stressed the importance of education within the hardwood flooring industry. When asked why retailers should attend the only conference focused on hardwood flooring education, Racine exclaimed that “Education is everything in this industry. It scares me when dealers or installers say ‘They’ve been doing this for twenty-eight years’, because sometimes retailers are closed to training because they’ve seen it all.”

Being the Director of Technical Services at BR-111, Racine has learned an unfortunate truth within the industry, stating that “Many dealers and installers don’t understand what acclimation of hardwood flooring really means, or why it is critical to understand acclimation”. Furthermore, Racine states that “People who have worked with hardwood flooring for many years are unfamiliar with FSP, EMC, and OD, or even what a moisture content percentage chart is”.

The Hardwood Flooring Summit is a one-of-a-kind educational conference. The Summit will include speaker sessions, forty-five breakouts, panels, and debates between industry experts. There’s also a claims, inspection report writing, and photography course, which is being held the on August 12th and 13th. This two day course is free to those who register for The Hardwood Flooring Summit.

For additional information on The Hardwood Flooring Summit, contact Dan Blake at 1-(877)888-1013 or visit www.woodconference.com.

About The Hardwood Flooring Summit:

The Hardwood Flooring Summit is taking place in Atlanta, at the Westin Peachtree Plaza hotel (which is the tallest hotel in the western hemisphere). The Hardwood Flooring Summit is organized and hosted by The Claims Advisor, which is a proud member of The National Wood Flooring Association and The World Floor Covering Association. The Claims Advisor has been consulting the flooring industry for more than twenty years. The Claims Advisor has conducted over one hundred-fifty training sessions throughout North America, and provides claims manuals and other educational material for the flooring industry.

The World Floor Covering Association has approved the utilization of up to a $500 trade scholarship for this conference. Regular members of the WFCA who are attending The Hardwood Flooring Summit may be eligible for this scholarship opportunity.

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Checks and splits are two of the biggest issues in the hardwood flooring industry.

• What causes checks and splits?
• Why do they occur after installation?
• Are they manufacturing defects?
• Are they installation related issues?
• Or, are checks and splits environmental related conditions?

There seems to be conflicting information on this topic, depending on who you ask. There are good arguments to both sides. There isn’t, however, much of anything in writing on checks and splits.

I recently had the opportunity to interview Dr. Brian H. Bond on checks and splits.

Brian is a professor at Virginia Tech University’s Department of Wood Science and Forest Products. His current extension and research program at VT focuses on improving efficiency in sawmills and lumber drying operations. He also teaches the University’s course on Wood Drying and Durability. To be blunt, he’s an expert when it comes to hardwood flooring.

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This is the first set of photographs are from the National Wood Flooring Association’s convention in Fort Lauderdale. This set is from keynote speaker session. Don Shula was the keynote speaker. Coach Shula applied much of the experience he gained during a stalwart career as an NFL coach (refer to his Super Bowl ring for verification) to business in the hardwood flooring industry. He focused on teamwork as a tool for success in the hardwood flooring industry. I’m sure everyone who had the chance to see the National Wood Flooring Association’s keynote speaker benefited from Mr. Shula’s talk.

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